System and method for interfacing a privacy management service with a voice mail system

ABSTRACT

A privacy screening service in an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) includes a service node which records a caller&#39;s name when a call directed to a subscriber of the service originates at an unknown number. The service node, in turn, places a call to the subscriber and transmits the recorded name together with a signal which is recognizable by a voice mail system. Following the transmission, the service node waits for the subscriber either to accept or reject a call from the caller. When the subscriber&#39;s line is answered by a voice mail system, the voice mail system recognizes and acknowledges the signal so that the voice mail system and service node may determine that their call is between two machines and may take appropriate action. One such action is to connect the caller to the subscriber&#39;s voice mail and to restart the subscriber&#39;s outgoing voice mail greeting.

RELATED CASES

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/372,676, entitled “System and Method for PrivacyManagement,” filed on Aug. 12, 1999.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the termination of telephone call in atelephone network that provides a privacy screening service to itssubscribers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A privacy screening service is a service that allows a subscriber to theprivacy screening service to screen incoming calls. The privacyscreening service provides information to the called party (in thiscase, the subscriber to the privacy screening service) that allows thesubscriber to make an informed decision as whether or not to answer thecall. For example, a subscriber may use the privacy screening service toblock all unidentified calls from going through. Private telephonenumbers are telephone numbers that block services such as “caller ID”that would otherwise identify the caller to the called party. Intelephone systems that offer private numbers and a privacy screeningservice to its customers, calls from a private number to a subscriberwith the privacy screening service cannot be completed automatically,unless the caller authorizes the system to override the privacy of hisnumber.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the basic architecture of anAdvanced Intelligent Network telephone system. The Advanced IntelligentNetwork System is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,701,301 and 5,838,774,which are hereby incorporated by reference. FIG. 1 shows the caller'stelephone 101 which is connected via the calling party's voice line 102a to its Service Switching Point (SSP) 103. SSP 103 is connected viavoice trunk 102 b to a second SSP (SSP 104). SSP 104 is the SSP thatservices the called party's telephone 105. In this example, the calledparty is a subscriber who has subscribed to the privacy screeningservice. (The called party will also be referred to as the “subscriber”,as well as the “called party” herein) FIG. 1 also shows a SignalingTransfer Point (STP) 106 which services a Service Control Point (SCP)107 and a third SSP (SSP 108) which services a Service Node (SN) 109.SCP 107 has a database 107a that contains subscriber information.

STP 106 is a signaling hub that routes packets of data over the commonchannel signaling network. Common channeling signaling are datacommunications networks laid over the system's switching network thatcarry data and control messages to and from and among the SSPs, STPs,and SCPs in the network. Signaling System 7 (SS7) is the protocol thatruns over common channel signaling networks. A common channel signalingnetwork using the Signaling System 7 protocol is often referred to as anSS7 network. The SS7 network carries data and control messages to theSSPs in the telephone network. SCPs are powerful fault-tolerantcomputers, e.g., AT&T Star Server FT Model 3200 or AT&T Star Server FTModel 3300 computers (these and more, current computers such as theAdvantage P200 and Advantage 4P200 models are presently available fromLucent Technologies). SCPs are “intelligence centers” with access toapplications databases that mate the network to deliver advancedservices such as caller ID, privacy screening and call forwarding. TheSCPs also execute service package applications (SPAs) that deliver theadvanced services. SNs are physically generally similar to SCPs, butinclude voice and Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) signal recognitioncircuits, voice synthesizers, and voice recognition and digit collectioncapabilities. The operators of the telephone network can program theirSNs to manage data, to respond to calls and to route calls as specifiedby the telephone network and to collect digits from a caller orsubscriber. The SNs voice circuits can also be programmed to provide avoice response (e.g., to play pre-selected announcements) to callers andto perform voice recognition. SNs can also be programmed to respond toinput from the callers by, e.g., further routing the call.

As shown in FIG. 1, STP 106 controls communications between SSPs 103,104 and 108 and SCP 107. The SSPs are connected to the caller's and thesubscriber's telephones and to each other via voice lines 102 a and 102c and via voice trunks 102 b and 102 d. The SSPs communicate with STP106 and SCP 107 via SS7 data links 110 a, 110 b, 110 c, and 110 d. SN109 is connected to SSP 108 by an Integrated Service Digital Network(ISDN) Basic Rate Interface (BRI) line 111.

When the caller places a call to the subscriber, the call is routed bySSP 103 to art system in which call 1 is routed from the caller to SSP104. FIG. 1a shows a prior SSP 103 and then to SSP 104. Because thesubscriber has subscribed to the privacy screening service, that call(like all calls to that subscribes number) triggers a terminationattempt trigger or TAT. In response to the TAT, SSP 104 query 2, shownin FIG. 1a. Query 2 is a message that goes up to SCP 107 via STP 106asking for directions as to how the call should be terminated. The queryincludes the following information: the subscriber's telephone number(in the calling party field), the calling party's telephone number (inthe calling party field), the calling party's presentation restrictionindicator (also in the calling party field), and, optionally, thetrigger criteria type (indicating the service for which the query isintended).

SCP 107 checks the presentation indicator in the calling party field ofthe query received as a result of the termination attempt trigger. Ifpresentation of the caller's number is not restricted, i.e., if thecaller's number is public, SCP 107 sends back a response (response 3 inFIG. 1a) instructing SSP 104 to terminating the call, and to supply thecaller's telephone number (and, if that subscriber has subscribed to ahigher level of service such as caller ID deluxe, the caller's name andtelephone number). In that case, SSP 104 terminates the call (call 1′ inFIG. 1a), i.e., completes the call supplying the subscriber with thecaller's number (and possibly also with the causes name). If the callersname is to be supplied to the customer, SSP 104 launches another query,a TR1188 CNAM query to the SCP, to obtain the caller's name from eitherdatabase 107 a or another database on the system that contains the namescorrespond to the telephone numbers.

The prior art system of FIG. 1a asks the calling party to record his orher name whenever the calling party number is private or unknown. Inthis prior art system, if the caller's number is private or unknown, SCP107 enters the subscriber's number in the calling party field inresponse 3 and directs SSP 104 to forward the call to SN 109 (call 1″ inFIG. 1a). When SN 109 answers the call it asks the calling party torecord his or her name. If the calling party responds by recording hisor her name, SN 109 then the. subscriber (call 4 in FIG. 1a), using thesubscriber's telephone number (that had been stored in the calling partyfield).

The TAT provisioned on the subscriber's line at SSP 104 triggers asecond time, sending a query (query 5) up to SCP 107 through STP 106.SCP 107 recognizes that this call originated with a service node, SN109, and sends a response (response 6 in FIG. 1a) authorizingtermination to the subscriber. SN 109 then plays a dialog to thesubscriber, identifying the calling party by playing the calling party'srecorded name for the subscriber. If the subscriber chooses to acceptthe call, the call is put though (leg 4′ of call 4 in FIG. 1a). If thesubscriber refuses to accept the call, the calling party is informedthat his or her call was not accepted, and the call is disconnected.

This prior art system works irrespective of whether the calling partynumber is public (i.e., not private), private or unknown, but cannottake full advantage of the advanced intelligent network capabilities ofthe AIN system because the number is not preserved. Thus this prior artsystem does not allow the use of advanced intelligent network featuressuch as call return or call trace.

Additionally, the prior art does not provide a mechanism by which it canbe detected when a voice mail system has answered the call placed fromthe service node to the subscriber, thereby possibly creating thesituation that the service node plays a recorded name for a voice mailsystem and waits for an accept/reject response that the voice mailsystem is unable to provide.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a system and method that allows calls to beterminated to a subscriber to a privacy screening service, even when thecalling party is either private or unknown, and preserves the callingparty number when the calling party number is known (whether the callingparty number is public or private). The present invention is illustratedin FIGS. 2-3, which show the same basic AIN architecture as the networkarchitecture of prior art systems of FIGS. 1-1a. FIG. 2 shows theoperation of the present invention when the calling party is known (forboth the case when the calling party number is private and the case whenthe calling party number is public). FIG. 3 shows the operation of theinvention when the calling party number is unknown.

As shown in FIG. 2, when the calling party dials the subscriber'snumber, the call is routed (as call 1 in FIG. 2) through the caller'sSSP (SSP 103), to the subscriber's SSP, SSP 104. The call hits thesubscriber's TAT at SSP 104, triggering a query (query 2) in FIG. 2,which goes up to SCP 107 via STP 106, over SS7 links 110 b and 110 d(links 110 b and 110 d are identified in FIG. 1, but are not identifiedin FIGS. 2-3).

SCP 107 checks the calling party ID and presentation indicator in query2, and determines whether the calling party is known and public, knownand private, or unknown. In the present invention, if the calling partynumber is public and known, SCP 107 sends back a response authorizingtermination to the subscriber (response 3 in FIG. 2). If the subscriberhas subscribed to a service that provides the calling party's name aswell as the calling party's telephone number, SSP 104 then launches aquery (e.g., a TR-1188 query) to obtain calling name information fromSCP 107 and its database 107 a. Then SSP 104 terminates the call to thesubscriber (call 1′ in FIG. 2), presenting the subscriber with thecalling party's number (and name, if the subscriber has subscribed to aservice that provides the calling party's name as well as the callingparty's number).

If the calling party number is private, SCP 107 re-writes thepresentation indicator as “public”, i.e., redefines the presentationindicator in the presentation indicator field (i.e., thepresentation_restricted_indicator portion of the calling party ID fieldin the query) as public. As shown in FIG. 2, SCP 107 responds to the TATquery from SSP 104 by directing SSP 104 to forward the call to SN 109,with the presentation indicator re-written as public. SSP 104 writes thesubscriber's number in the “re-directing party” field, and forwards thecall (call 1″ from SSP 104 to SN 109 in FIG. 2) to SN 109 at SN 109'snumber via SSP 108. Thus, when the call is presented to SN 109, the callhas the subscriber's number in the “re-directing party” field, and theoriginal calling party's is number in the “calling party” field. BecauseSCP 107 bas toggled the presentation indicator from “private” to“public”, SN 109 has access to the calling party number. SN 109 answersthe call, and plays an announcement to the calling party, asking forhis/her permission to present his/her number (and name) to thesubscriber. If the calling party refuses to grant permission to presenthis/her number (and name) to the subscribe the call is disconnected. Ifthe calling party agrees to have his/her number (and name) presented, SN109 dials a Customized Dialing Plan (CDP) code Y (e.g., *95), the10-digit called party number, and the 10-digit calling party number(call 4 in FIG. 2).

The CDP code Y triggers a query at SSP 108, which launches aninfo_analyzed query to SCP 107 (query 4′ in FIG. 2), populating the“Access Code” and “Collected Digits” fields as follows:

Access Code=Y

Collected Digits=The remainder of the dialed digits, i.e., the 10-digitcalled party number followed by the 10-digit calling party number.

SCP 107 analyzes the dialed string and returns an analyze route response(response 5) with:

CdPN=Subscriber's number

CgPN=Calling party number

SSP 108 then dials the subscriber number (call 6 in FIG. 2). This callis routed through SSP 104, where it triggers a TAT query (query 7) fromSSP 104 to SCP 107 with the following parameters:

CgPN=Calling party number.

CdPN=Subscriber's number

Charge Number=SN 109's number, e.g., lead number for SN 109's Multi LineHunt Group (MLHG) number

SCP 107 recognizes the Charge Number as SN 109's MLHG number, andauthorizes SSP 104 to terminate the call (response 8). SSP 104 thenpresents the call to the subscriber (call 1′ in FIG. 2, with thepresentation indicator set to “public”). SSP 104 obtains the callingparty's name by sending a CNAM TR-1188 query to SCP 107 (or to anotherSCP that responds to TR-1188 CNAM queries). As soon as the subscriber'stelephone rings, SN 109 can drop out of the route, with the call routedthrough SSPs 103, 104, 108 and 104 (again) and on to the subscriber.

FIG. 3 shows the operation of the present invention when the callingparty is unknown. As above, the sequence starts when the calling partydials the subscriber's number. The call is routed (as call I in FIG. 3)through the caller's SSP, SSP 103, to the subscriber's SSP, SSP 104. Thecall hits the subscriber's TAT at SSP 104, triggering a query (query 2in FIG. 3), which goes up to SCP 107 via STP 106, over SS7 links 110 band 110 d. SCP 107 examines the presentation indicator in the callingparty ID field in query 2, and determines that the number is unknown.

In response 3 to query 2, SCP 107 them directs SSP 104 to route the canto SN 109 (call 1′ from SSP 104 to SN 109 in FIG. 3). The call arrivesat SN 109 with the subscriber as the redirecting party, the callingparty number in the calling party field, and the SN number in the calledparty field. When the call is presented to SN 109, SN 109 checks thecalling party number, and determines that it is unknown. SN 109 thenplays an announcement to the calling party, asking the calling party torecord his or her name. If the calling party refuses to do so, the callis disconnected. If the calling party agrees to record his/her name, SN109 dials the CDP code Y, the 10-digit called party number, and the10-digit SN Multi Line Hunt Group number (call 4 in FIG. 3). The CDPcode Y triggers a query at SSP 108, which sends an info_analyzed query(query 4′ in FIG. 3) to SCP 107, populating the “Access Code” and“Collected Digits” fields as follows:

Access Code=Y

Collected Digits=the remainder of the dialed digits, i.e., the 10 digitcalled party number and the 10-digit SN MLHG number.

SCP 107 analyzes the query and returns an analyze_route message(response 5) to SSP 108, which then calls the subscriber (call 6) with:

CdPN=subscriber's number

CgPN=SN's MLHG number.

This call triggers a TAT query (query 7) on the subscriber's line at SSP104. The query includes SN 109's MLHG number as the calling partynumber, the subscriber's number as the called party number, and SN 109'sMLHG number as the charge number. Since the charge number is the leadnumber for SN 109's MLHG, SCP 107 sends SSP 104 an Authorize Terminationmessage (response 8), authorizing termination of the call from SSP 104to the subscriber. SSP 104 &en executes a TRI 188 query, which returnsthe privacy manager as the party name. SSP 104 then completes the call(call 1″). For subscribers to caller ID deluxe, the LCD display on thesubscriber's telephone will show, e.g., “Privacy Manager” as the callerparty.

SN 109 then plays an announcement to the subscriber, asking thesubscriber whether he or she would like to accept or reject a call fromthe calling party, whose name is played for the subscriber as “recordedname.” The subscriber can then e.g., accept the call by pressing 1, havea simple rejection played by pressing 2, have a “sales call”, rejection(“we do not accept sales calls, please remove this number from yourcaller list”) played by pressing 3, or route the call to voicemail bypressing 4. If the subscriber accepts the call, SN 109 transfers controlof the call to SSP 104, and drops out (although the call is still routedthrough SSP 108). If the subscriber rejects the call, SN 109 plays theannouncement selected by the subscriber or routes the call to voicemail,and then the call is disconnected.

The present invention thus preserves the calling party number, such thatthe system can take full advantage of the capabilities of the advancedintelligent network, e.g., call return or call trace for all knowncalls, whether private or public.

It is an object of the present invention to offer a privacy service tosubscribers that allows private calling parties to override theirprivacy, and that allows calls from unknown calling parties to be routedto the subscriber, and yet still allows the use of advanced intelligentnetwork features.

Additionally, in the case where service node 109 places a call to asubscriber and plays a “recorded name,” the call to the subscriber maybe redirected to a voice mail system. According to a further aspect ofthe present invention, service node 109 may provide a recognizablesignal along with the “recorded name” message, so that the voice mailsystem can detect that it is receiving a call from the service noderather than a live caller. For example, the service node may precede therecorded message with a particular tone, preferably a unique dual tone.In response, the voice mail system may provide its own acknowledgmentsignal that is detectable by the service node. These signals allowservice node 109 and the voice mail system to detect that the twomachines are in communication, thereby preventing the situation in whichthe two machines simultaneously provide each other with recordedmessages and then wait for human responses from each other.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the basic architecture of an AINtelephone network.

FIG. 1a is a schematic diagram showing a prior art system routing ofcalls when a subscriber has subscribed to a privacy screening service.

FIG. 2 is a schematic, diagram of the present invention, showing therouting of calls when a subscriber has subscribed to a privacy serviceand the calling party number is known.

FIG. 3 is a schematic, diagram of the present invention, showing therouting of calls when a subscriber has subscribed to a privacy screeningservice and the calling party number is unknown.

FIG. 4 is an overall schematic diagram of the call flows of the presentinvention, showing how the call flows depend upon whether the callingparty number is public, private or unknown.

FIG. 5 is a chart outlining the call flows of the present invention,when the subscriber has subscribed to a privacy screening service, andthe calling party's number is known and public.

FIGS. 6-6a are charts outlining the call flows of the present invention,when the subscriber has subscribed to a privacy screening service thatprovides the name and the number of the calling party, and the callingparty's number is known and private.

FIGS. 7-7a are charts outlining the call flows of the present invention,when the subscriber has subscribed to a privacy screening service, andthe calling party's number is unknown.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the re-routing of a call from aservice node in the case where a subscriber of a privacy screeningservice has also subscribed to a voice mail service.

FIGS. 9A and 9B are timing diagrams showing various scenarios in which aservice node that implements a privacy screening service, and a voicemail system, play their respective recorded messages.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of an automatic machine detection process in acall between a service node and a voice mail system.

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of a procedure that may be followed upon adetermination that a service node's call has been answered by a voicemail system.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an exemplary service node in accordancewith the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention can be described by describing the sequence ofcall flows initiated when a calling party calls a subscriber who hassubscribed to a privacy service. FIG. 4 is an overall schematic showingthat the call flows depend on whether the calling party number is knownand public (further described in Example 1 and FIG. 5), known andprivate (further described in Example 2 and FIGS. 6-6a) or unknown(further described in Example 3 and FIGS. 7-7a). As shown in FIG. 4, thecall sequence starts in step 401, when the calling party dials thesubscriber's telephone number. The calling party's SSP, SSP 103, routesthe call to the subscriber's SSP, SSP 104 in step 402. Because thesubscriber has subscribed to a privacy screening service, in step 403that call hits a “termination attempt trigger” or TAT at SSP 104. Inresponse to the TAT, SSP 104 sends a query up to SCP 107 in step 404. Instep 405, SCP 107 determines whether (1) the calling party number isknown and public, in which case the call is routed to the subscriber instep 406, as described in Example 1 and FIG. 5; (2) the calling partynumber is known and private, in which case the call is routed to SN 109,which asks the calling party to override his or her privacy (step 407),the calling party agrees or refuses (step 408) and then SN 109 routesthe call to the subscriber if the calling party agrees (step 409A) ordisconnects the call if the calling party refuses (step 409R), asdescribed in Example 2 and FIGS. 6-6a; or (3) the calling party numberis unknown, in which case the call is also routed to SN 109, SN 109 asksthe calling party to record his or her name in step 410, the callingparty refuses or agrees to record his or her name in step 411, and thenthe call is disconnect (step 412R) or routed to the subscriber (step412A). This sequence for unknown calling parties is described in Example3 and FIGS. 7-7a.

As discussed above, FIGS. 5-7a represent schematically the call flowscorresponding to the cases described below in Examples 1-3. The acronymsused in FIGS. 5-7a are:

Calling Party Number: CgPN Called Party Number: CdPN Charge Number:ChargeN Re-Directing Party ID: Re-DirectID Presentation indicator:Privacy Display Text: DspTxt Announcement Identification: AnnID CollectDigits: CollDig

The announcements played by the network will be exemplified as follows:

91: Announcement to an unknown calling party, asking the calling partyto record his/her name.

92: Announcement to the subscriber, playing the calling party's name,and asking the subscriber to accept or reject the call.

93: Announcement to the calling party when the calling party's number isprivate, asking the calling party for permission to provide his/hernumber (and name) to the subscriber, and explaining that if permissionis not granted, the call will be disconnected.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention with specific examples,the flow in FIGS. 5-7a will all have the calling party number (CgPN) as111-111-1111) the subscriber's number (initially, CdPN) as 222-222-2222,and the Service Node's Multi-Line Hunt Group number as 333-333-3333.

The specific sequence of calls depends on the private/public/unknownstatus of the calling party. As described in Examples 1-3, there arethree possible call sequences.

EXAMPLE 1 Calling Party is Known and Public

FIG. 5 is a chart showing the call flows to a subscriber when thesubscriber has subscribed to a privacy screening service, and thecalling party is known (i.e., it is in the system's database) and ispublic (i.e., there are no restrictions on disclosing the name andnumber to a called party that has, e.g., caller ID). The sequence isalso illustrated in FIG. 2 (call 1, query 2, response 3, call 1).

As shown in FIG. 5, the call flows start in step 501, with the callingparty dialing the subscriber's telephone number. That call (call 1 inFIG. 2) goes through the calling party's SSP (SSP 103), carrying with itthe calling party's number 111-111-1111 in the CgPN field, thesubscriber's or called party number 222-222-2222 in the CdPN field, thecalling party's number in the charge number field, and leaving theReDirectID field blank. The presentation indicator is set to public. Instep 502, SSP 103 routes the call to the subscriber's SSP (SSP 104).When the call reaches SSP 104, it hits a termination attempt trigger (orTAT) that has been provisioned on the subscriber's line at SSP 104, toprovide the subscriber with the privacy screening service. ‘Mus in step503, SSP 104 sends a TAT query (query 2 in FIG. 2) to SCP 107. In step504, SCP 107 checks the presentation indicator in the Calling Party IDand determines that the calling party information is not restricted,i.e., is public, and authorizes termination of the call (response 3).

In step 505, SSP 104 terminates the call to the subscriber, providingthe subscriber with the calling party's number (and name if thesubscriber's service provides name as well as number). In step 506, thecall goes through (calling FIG. 2).

EXAMPLE 2 Calling Party is Known and Private

FIGS. 6-6a are charts showing the call flows to a subscriber to aprivacy scanning service, when the calling party is known, but his/hernumber is private. In step 601, the calling party starts the callsequence by dialing the subscriber's number. The call goes to thecalling party's SSP (SSP 103), which routes the call in step 602 to thesubscriber's SSP (SSP 104). Because the subscriber's line at SSP 104 isprovisioned with a TAT, this call triggers a TAT query (query 2) fromSSP 104 to SCP 107 in step 603. In step 604, SCP 107 checks thepresentation indicator in the calling party ID field and determines thatthe calling party's number is private. SCP 107 then toggles the callingparty's presentation indicator from “private” to “public”, and instructsSSP 104 to send the call to SN 109, with instructions to SN 109 to playan announcement to the calling party, and collect one digit in response.

In step 605, SN 109 plays an announcement (e.g., announcement 93) askingthe calling party to agree to have his or her number (and name)disclosed to the subscriber. In step 606, the calling party can respondby, e.g., pressing “1” to agree or “2” to refuse, and SN 109 collectsthe digit pressed (e.g., the 1 or the 2). If the calling party refusesion, in step 607R SN 109 responds by disconnecting the call. In thatcase, the subscriber never knows that an attempt was made to call him orher.

If the calling party agrees to have his or her privacy overridden step607A SN 109 dials a CDP code Y, the 10-digit called party number and the10-digit calling party number (call 4 in FIG. 2). In step 608. SSP 108responds to the CDP code by sending an info_analyzed query (query 4′) toSCP 107, populating the “Access Code” and “Collected Digits” fields asfollows:

Access code=Y (*95, in this example)

Collected Digits=the remainder of the digits, ie. the 10-digit calledparty number followed by the 10-digit calling party number.

In step 609, SCP 107 responds with an analyze_route message (response 5)to SSP 108, with the subscriber's number in the CdPN field, and thecalling party number in the CgPN field. SN 109 then dials thesubscriber's number in step 610 (call 6). When this call reaches SSP104, it triggers a TAT, since the subscriber's line is provisioned withthe TAT for the privacy screening service. In step 611, SSP 104 sendsthe TAT query to SCP 107 (query 7), with the calling party's number inthe CgPN field, the subscriber's number in the CdPN field, and SN 109'snumber in the ChargeN field. In step 612, SCP 107 recognizes the chargenumber as SN 109's number, and authorizes termination of the call to thesubscriber (response 8). In step 613, if the subscriber has caller IDDeluxe, SSP 104 sends a TR-1188 CNAM query (query 9, shown only in FIG.6a) to SCP 107, which responds in step 614 with the calling party's name(response 10, shown only in FIG. 6a). SSP 108 terminates the call to thesubscriber in step 615, and the call goes through in step 616 (call 1′in FIG. 2).

EXAMPLE 3 Calling Party is Unknown

FIGS. 7-7a are charts showing the call flows to a subscriber to aprivacy service when the calling party is unknown (e.g., because thecall is coming from outside the network). in step 701, the calling partydials the subscriber's number. The call (call 1 in FIG. 3) is routed bythe calling party's SSP 103 to the subscriber's SSP 104 in step 702.This call triggers a TAT at SSP 104, because the subscriber's line isprovisioned with a privacy screening TAT. In step 703, SSP 104 sends theTAT query to SCP 107 (query 2 in FIG. 3). In step 704, SCP 107 checksthe calling party ID and determines that the calling party is unknown.SCP 107 then responds (response 3) to query 2 by instructing SSP 104 toroute the call to SN 109, with instructions to SN 109 to play anannouncement to the caller. SSP 104 routes the call to SN 109 via SSP108. The call reaches SN 109 with the SN's Multi-Line Hunt Group Numberin the CdPN field, and the subscriber's number in the ReDirectID field.The calling party field is blank. In step 705, SN log plays anannouncement, e.g., announcement 91, asking the calling party to recordhis or her name. The calling party agrees, e.g., by saying their name,or refuses (e.g., by hanging up) in step 706. If the calling partyrefuses to record his or her name, the call is disconnected in step707R.

If the calling party records his or her name, in step 707A SN 109 dialsCDP code Y, e.g., *95, followed by the subscriber's number and the leadnumber of SN 109's Multi-line Hunt Group. In step 708, this dialedstring reaches SSP 108, and the CDP code Y triggers an info-query (query4) from SSP 108 to SCP 107, with the “Access Code” and “CollectedDigits” fields populated as follows:

Access code=Y (*95, in this example)

Collected Digits=the remainder of the digits, i.e. the 10-digit partynumber (the subscriber's number), followed by the 10-digit party numberof SN 109's MLHG.

In step 709, SCP 107 analyzes the string and returns an analyze routemessage (response 5) with the subscriber's number in the CdPN field andSN 109's lead Multi-Hunt Group number in the CgPN field. SSP 108 callsthe subscriber in step 710 (call 6 in FIG. 3) via SSP 104, triggeringthe TAT on the subscribers line at SSP 104. In step 711, SSP 104 thensends the TAT query (query 7) to SCP 107. This query has SN 109's MultiLine Hunt Group lead number in the charge party field. In step 712, SCP107 recognizes SN 109's number in the charge party field, and authorizestermination of the call (response 8).

In step 713, SSP 104 terminates the call to the subscriber, and plays anannouncement (e.g., announcement 92) that includes playing the recordingof the calling party's name. If the subscriber subscribes to caller IDdeluxe, SSP 104 also executes a CNAW query to SCP 107, to which SCP 107responds with “Privacy Manager” (or a similar name) as the callingparty. In step 714, the subscriber decides whether to accept or rejectthe call. If the subscriber rejects the call, SSP 104 plays anannouncement to the caller rejecting the call in step 715R, and the callis disconnected in step 716. If the subscriber rejects the call,optionally the subscriber may select a simple rejection or a sales callrejection, or may choose to forward the call to voicemail. If thesubscriber decides to accept the call, the call goes through in step715A.

Detection of Voice Mail System During Identification of Calling Party bya Recorded Message

Referring now to FIG. 8, there is shown a particular case of theprocessing of a call within an AIN. Specifically, FIG. 8 describes thecase in which the caller has an unknown number, and in which the servicenode's call to the subscriber is answered by a voice mail system. Withreference to previous figures, FIG. 8 describes the case in whichdecisional step 405 (shown in FIG. 4) results in a determination thatthe calling party number is unknown, and where the call placed byservice node 109 (at step 707A, shown in FIG. 7) is answered by a voicemail system.

In FIG. 8, the following numerals describe the legs of the call flow:

1=Call from caller 101 to subscriber 105

1′=Redirection of call 1 to service node 109 after hitting terminationattempt trigger (TAT) at SSP 104

2=Call from service node 109 to subscriber 105

2′=Redirection of call 2 to voicemail system

Initially, caller 101 places a call (shown as leg 1) to subscriber 105.Upon reaching SSP 104, the call hits a termination attempt trigger(shown at step 403 in FIG. 4). Based on communications with SCP 107 (asdescribed in steps 404 and 405 of FIG. 4), it is determined that thecall is not to be terminated at subscriber 105, but rather is to beredirected to service node 109. Thus, the call is shown as two legs inFIG. 8: leg 1 which represents the communication between caller 101 andSSP 104, and leg 1′, which represents the portion of the call after SSP104 has redirected it to service node (SN) 109.

As noted above, FIG. 8 depicts the example in which the calling partynumber is unknown and thus cannot merely be unblocked. Such a call isidentified to a subscriber of the privacy screening service by havingthe service node ask caller 101 to record his or her name, as describedat step 410 in FIG. 4. (It should be noted that the service node mayalso ask the calling party to record his or her name in the case wherethe calling party's number is known and private—i.e., the party hasdirected that the number not be provided by subscribing to a “caller IDblocking” service—and where calling party has failed to unblock thenumber within a specified time.) After the calling party has recordedhis or her name, service node (SN) 109 places a call to subscriber 105by the process described in steps 707A-713 (shown in FIG. 7a). However,unlike the case shown in FIG. 7a in which the call is terminated to thesubscriber, in the example of FIG. 8 subscriber 105 has subscribed notonly to a privacy screening service, but also to a voice mail service.When subscriber 105 fails to answer the call, the call is redirected tovoice mail system 802. When voice mail system 802 answer the call, itbegins to play a greeting (e.g., “You've reached the voice mail of theJones family. Please record your message after the beep.”), while, atthe same time, service node 109 plays a pre-recorded privacy screeningmessage (e.g., “Call coming in from <recorded name>. Do you want toaccept or reject.”) The present invention provides a technique wherebyservice node 109 and voice mail system 802 may recognize that they arein communication with each other and act accordingly, thereby preventingthe situation where each of the two machines plays a recorded messageand then waits for the other machine to provide a human response.

With reference to FIGS. 9A and 9B, two different situations are shown inwhich service node 109 and voice mail system 802 being playing theirrespective recorded messages as soon as the call connects. In FIG. 9A,the case is shown in which the privacy screening message (e.g., “Callcoming in from <recorded name> . . . ”) is shorter than the voice mailgreeting (e.g., “You've reached the voice mail of the Jones family . . .”) In this example, privacy screening message 902 completes first, andservice node 109 proceeds to wait for a response. While waiting for aresponse, voice mail system continues playing the greeting. Service node109 will time out waiting for a response, because a typical voice mailsystem 802 is not equipped to provide a response.

In FIG. 9B, a different example is shown in which privacy screeningmessage 902 is longer than greeting 904. In this case, greeting 904completes first and then voice mail system 802 beings recording. Sinceservice node 109 is still playing privacy screening message 902, voicemail system 802 may record the tail end of privacy screening message902. Thus, if privacy screening message 902 is “Call coming in from<recorded name>. Do you want to accept or reject,” when the subscriberto the voice mail service hears the recorded message, he or she may heara portion of the privacy screening message 901, such as, “ . . . want toaccept or reject.” The subscriber may not be able to make any sense ofthis message fragment.

With reference to FIG. 10, a process is now described for performingautomatic machine detection in the situation shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B.The process of FIG. 10 begins after step 712 in the process shown inFIGS. 7-7a. Specifically, the process of FIG. 10 begins at the pointwhere the call has been placed from an unknown number, the caller at theunknown number has recorded his or her name, the service node has placeda call to the subscriber in order to play a message including therecorded name, and the SCP has authorized termination of the servicenode's call to the subscriber. However, unlike the case shown in FIGS.7-7a wherein the call terminates to the subscriber by the subscriber'sanswering the call, in FIG. 10 it is presumed that the subscriber hasnot answered the call or, for some other reason, the call has beenredirected to voice mail system 802 (shown in FIG. 8).

Thus, at step 1002, voice mail system 802 answers the call from servicenode 109. At step 1004, service node 109 plays a signal and a recordedmessage. As one example, service node 109 may precede the recordedmessage by a particular tone (e.g., a machine-generated sine wave at aparticular pitch). Preferably, the tone is a dual-tone comprising twodifferent frequencies, because such dual-tones are particular easy torecognize by machine, and the machine detection mechanism is unlikely toconfuse such a dual-tone with a real conversation. Thus, the audiogenerated by service node 109 could be “<TONE > Call coming in from<recorded name > . . . ” It should be appreciated that a tone thatprecedes the recorded message is merely one non-limiting example of asignal, and other types of signals may be used without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention. Any type of signal may be used solong as it is recognizable by voice mail system 802, so that voice mailsystem 802 can identify that the communicated message is a privacyscreening service call from service node 109.

It should be observed that, while FIG. 10 depicts the case in whichvoice mail system 802 answers the call from service node 109, theplaying of a signal along with the recorded message is not limited tothe case where voice mail system 802 answers the call. On the contrary,it is contemplated that service node 109 will play the signal every timeit places a call to play a “recorded name” message. Service node 109 hasno way of knowing whether its call has been directed to voice mailsystem 802 at the time that it beings playing a message. The function ofthe signal is to say: “This call is coming from a machine,” and to letthe recipient of the call decide whether that fact is of anysignificant, or what action needs to be taken. The signal that is playedat step 1004 is preferably designed to be audibly unobtrusive, so thatif the call from service node 109 is answered by a human being (e.g.,the subscriber), the signal can be easily disregarded. In fact, asubscriber to the privacy screening service may be unaware of themeaning or significance of the signal and simply ignores it.

At step 1006, voice mail system 802 recognizes the signal that wasplayed at step 1004. The process by which a machine may detect thepresence of a particular audible signal is well known in the art andtherefore is not described herein.

At step 1008, voice mail system 802 sends an acknowledgement to servicenode 109. The acknowledgement has the effect of indicating that voicemail system 802 has recognized and understood the signal generated byservice node 109 and wishes to inform service node 109 that a machinehas answered the call. As one example, the signal sent by voice mailsystem 802 at step 1008 may be an audible tone (which is preferablydistinct from the audible tone generated by service node 109 at step1004). As with the signal generated at step 1004, the acknowledgementsignal is preferably a dual-tone.

After the completion of step 1008, service node 109 and voice mailsystem 802 conclude that the call is between two machines (step 1010).The process then continues to step 1012, where either service node 109,voice mail system 802, or both, take some action that is appropriate fora call between two machines.

Any appropriate action, or set of actions, may be taken at step 1012.FIG. 11 shows a particular set of actions that may be appropriate in thecontext of a privacy screening service. As previously described, onefunction of a privacy screening service is to prevent a call fromterminating to a subscriber of the service unless the caller can beidentified. In the case where voice mail system 802 has answered thecall on behalf of subscriber, termination of the call to the subscriberhas already been averted, so it may be desirable to allow the unknowncaller to leave a voice mail for the subscriber. FIG. 11 shows anexemplary set of steps that may be used to accomplish that result.

Thus, after it has been determined that service node 109 and voice mailsystem 802 are talking to each other, at step 1102 service node 109transfers control of the call to SSP 104 (shown in FIG. 8). In response,SSP 104 connects caller 101 to voice mail system 802 (step 1104). Afterthat connection is made, voice mail system 802 restarts its greeting(step 1006). From the perspective of caller 101, after recording his orher name, caller 101 waits for a brief time (while service node 109attempts to call subscriber 105) and the next thing that caller 101hears is the greeting generated by voice mail system 802. Caller 101 isunaware of service node 109's initial contact with voice mail system 802wherein a signal and an acknowledgment were exchanged. That“handshaking” between service node 109 and voice mail system 802 istransparent to caller 101, who merely hears the restarted voice mailgreeting and is permitted to leave a message with voice mail system 802.

It should be observed that FIG. 11 is merely an exemplary action thatmay be taken after service node 109 and voice mail system 802 realizethat their call is between two machines. In a different context, adifferent set of actions could be taken. For example, the privacyscreening service may be designed with much stricter privacy standardsunder which a caller is not even permitted to leave a message for asubscriber without the subscriber's permission. In such a case, theactions taken at step 1012 might include simply disconnecting the call,since the subscriber is not present on the line to either accept orreject the call. In another example, voice mail system 802 might permitservice node 109 to leave a message, rather than permitting caller 101to leave a message. Thus, service node 109 might leave a message onvoice mail system 802 of the form: “This is a call from the privacymanager. We attempted to deliver a call from <recorded name> but youwere unavailable to accept or reject the call .”

Exemplary Service Node 109

It will be observed from the above discussion that the function ofrecording a name and transmitting the recorded name along with anidentifiable signal is performed by service node 109. FIG. 12 shows anexemplary service node which may be used to perform these functions.Service node 109 includes a voice synthesizer 1202, an audio recordingdevice/audio recording logic 1204, a dialer 1206, a signal generator1208, an audio playback device/audio playback logic 1210, a processor1212, and a memory 1214. It will be understood by those skilled in theart that these components may be able to communicate with each otherwithin service node by a communications connection, such as connection1218. Connection 1218 may comprise any means for communication within anelectronic device (e.g., a ring, a bus, etc.).

Voice synthesizer 1202 includes circuitry or other hardware (e.g., anaudio tape player) that generates a voice message. For example, voicesynthesizer 1202 may generate the voice prompt that is transmitted tocaller 101 and that instructs caller 101 to record his or her name.

An audio recording device 1204 records audio, such as the name thatcaller 101 gives in response to the prompt. Audio recording device 1204may include circuitry or other hardware the performs the audio recordingfunction. Alternatively, service node 109 may include audio recordinglogic 1204, which runs on a general-purpose processor (e.g., processor1212) in order to record audio.

Dialer 1206 places calls on behalf of service node 109. For example,when service node 109 needs to place a call to another point in theadvanced intelligent network, it provides the telephone number of suchother point to dialer 1206, which, in turn, generates the information(e.g., tones) necessary to dial the specified number.

Signal generator 1208 generates the signal descried at step 1004 (shownin FIG. 10). For example, when the signal comprises preceding therecorded name with a tone (or a dual-tone), signal generator 1208includes the circuitry or logic that produces the tone (or dual-tone).For example, signal generator 1208 may generate a sine-wave at aparticular frequency (or, in the case of a dual-tone, sine-waves at twodifferent frequencies).

Audio playback device 1210 generates audio from recorded audio. Forexample, audio playback device 1210 may generate audio based onrecordings made by audio recording device/logic 1204. As in the case ofaudio recording device 1204, service node 109 may alternatively includeaudio playback logic 1210 which runs on a general-purpose processor inorder to perform the function of generating audio.

Processor 1212 is a general-purpose computer processing device, such asa microprocessor. Processor 1212 executes computer-executableinstruction (e.g., logic 1216) and performs actions based on thoseinstructions. The instructions executed by processor 1212 may be storedin memory 1214. Memory 1214 is preferably a semiconductor random-accessmemory device that stores arbitrary data. One type of data that may bestored in memory 1214 is logic 1216, which comprises a set ofinstructions to be executed by processor 1212. Processor 1212 mayperform different actions (possibly an infinite variety of differentactions) based on what logic 1216 is stored in memory 1214. For example,logic 1216 may include the instructions that cause service node 109 togenerate a prompt, record a name, and transmit the recorded name and asignal. It should be apparent that processor 1212 may instruct thevarious other elements of service node 109 to perform various actionbased on logic 1216.

The foregoing disclosure of embodiments of the present invention andexamples of how the present invention can be carried out has beenpresented for purposes of illustration and description. It is notexhaustive or intended to limit the invention to the precise formsdisclosed herein. Many variations and modifications of the embodimentsand examples described herein will be obvious to one of ordinary skillin the art in light of the above disclosure. The scope of the inventionis to be defined only by the claims appended hereto, and by theirequivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of telephone call processing comprisingthe acts of: intercepting a first call from a first party destined for asecond party; establishing an audio communications link with said firstparty; receiving an audible communication from said first party usingthe established communications link; recording said audiblecommunication; placing a second call to said second party, said secondparty having a message recording service which answers said second call;and transmitting, over said second call, said audible communication anda signal recognizable by said message recording service.
 2. The methodof claim 1, wherein the transmission of said signal in said transmittingact precedes the transmission of said audible communication.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising the act of: transmitting, oversaid second call, a menu of choices, said choices including at least oneof: accepting said first party's call; and rejecting said first party'scall.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein said signal comprises an audiblesignal.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein said signal comprises adual-tone.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the acts of:receiving an acknowledgment from said message recording service; andperforming one or more actions in response to said acknowledgment. 7.The method of claim 6, wherein said one or more actions comprise:connecting said first party to said message recording service.
 8. Themethod of claim 7, wherein said message recording service plays anoutbound message upon receipt of a call, and wherein said one or moreactions comprise: restarting said outbound message.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising the act of: following said establishing act,generating an audio prompt for said first party to record said firstparty's name.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein said method isperformed in an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) having a serviceswitching point and a service node, wherein said service switching pointhosts a termination attempt trigger associated with said second party,and wherein said intercepting act comprises: actuating said terminationattempt trigger; and redirecting said first call such that it terminatesat said service node.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein said AdvancedIntelligent Network further has a service control point, and whereinsaid intercepting act further comprises: in response to the actuation ofsaid termination attempt trigger, querying said service control point toobtain identifying information about said first party; and determiningthat said service control point will not provide said identifyinginformation.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein said identifyinginformation is unknown to said service control point.
 13. The method ofclaim 11, wherein said first party has directed that said identifyinginformation not be provided.
 14. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising the act of: following said establishing act, prompting saidfirst party to record identifying information about said first party.15. The method of claim 1, wherein said message recording servicecomprises a voice mail system.
 16. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising the act of: upon placement of said second call, redirectingsaid second call to said message recording service.
 17. In an AdvancedIntelligent Network (AIN) having a service switching point and a servicenode, a method of processing a first call from a first party destinedfor a second party comprising the acts of: said service switching pointredirecting said call to said service node; said service node receivingan audible communication from said first party; said service nodeplacing a second call to said second party, said second party having amessage recording service which answers said second call; and saidservice node transmitting, over said second call, said audiblecommunication and a signal recognizable by said message recordingservice.
 18. The method of claim 17, said Advanced Intelligent Networkfurther having a service control point communicatively connected to saidservice switching point, said service switching point hosting atermination attempt trigger which is actuated whenever a call destinedfor said second party is placed, said method further comprising the actsof: in response to the actuation of said termination attempt trigger,said service switching point transmitting a query to said servicecontrol point; and said service control point transmitting to saidservice switching point, in response to said query, an instruction toroute said call to said service node.
 19. The method of claim 18,wherein said Advanced Intelligent Network further comprises a databaseaccessible to said service control point, and wherein said methodfurther comprises the acts of: said service control point receiving saidquery; said service control point performing a database lookup inresponse to said query, said database looking being based on said secondparty's telephone number; and said service control point receivinginformation from said database; wherein said instruction is based on thereceived information.
 20. The method of claim 17, wherein thetransmission of said signal in said transmitting act precedes thetransmission of said audible communication.
 21. The method of claim 17,wherein said signal comprises an audible signal.
 22. The method of claim17, wherein said signal comprises a dual-tone.
 23. The method of claim17, further comprising the acts of: said message recording servicerecognizing said signal; and said message recording service performingone or more actions in response to said signal.
 24. The method of claim23, said one or more actions comprising: said message recording servicetransmitting an acknowledgment of said signal.
 25. The method of claim24, further comprising the acts of: connecting said first party to saidmessage recording service in response to said acknowledgment.
 26. Themethod of claim 23, wherein said message recording service plays anoutbound message upon receipt of a call, and wherein said one or moreactions comprise: restarting said outbound message.
 27. An advancedintelligent network comprising: a first service switching pointcommunicatively connected to a first party telephone station; a secondservice switching point communicatively connected to a second partytelephone station, said second service switching point beingcommunicatively connected to said first service switching point, saidsecond service switching point including a termination attempt triggerwhich takes an action when an incoming call destined for said secondparty is received, said one or more actions including generating aquery; a service control point, communicatively connected to said secondservice switching point, which receives said query from said secondservice switching point and which, based on said query, instructs saidservice switching point to redirect said incoming call to a point insaid advanced intelligent network different from said second partytelephone station; a service node which receives the redirected call,said service node being communicatively connected to said second serviceswitching point, said service node including: a voice synthesizer whichgenerates a prompt to record an audio communication; an audio recordingdevice or audio recording logic which records said audio communication;a dialer which places a call to a specified party; a signal generatorwhich produces an identifiable signal; an audio playback device or audioplayback logic which reproduces the audio communication recorded by saidaudio recording device or logic; logic which receives said instructionfrom said second service switching point and which, in response to saidinstructions, directs said voice synthesizer to generate said prompt fortransmittal to said first party over the redirected call, directs saidaudio recording device or logic to record said first party's response tosaid prompt, directs said dialer to place a call to said second party,directs said audio playback device or logic to reproduce said firstparty's recorded response, and directs said signal generator to generatesaid signal.
 28. The advanced intelligent network of claim 27, whereinsaid signal generator generates an audible tone.
 29. The advancedintelligent network of claim 27, wherein said signal generator generatesa dual-tone.
 30. The advanced intelligent network of claim 27, furthercomprising: a voice mail system which answers calls placed to saidsecond party, which recognizes said identifiable signal, and whichtransmits an acknowledgment when said identifiable signal is recognized.31. The advanced intelligent network of claim 30, wherein said servicenode further includes logic which instructs said second serviceswitching point to connect said first party to said voice mail systemupon receipt of said acknowledgment.